Canada’s Gun Ban – 1 year later

I’ll start by saying this isn’t a “happy” anniversary, as one year ago today, the Liberal government levelled peaceful, licensed Canadian gun owners with an historic, sweeping gun ban. This is the same government who continues to go soft on actual criminals, while painting legal gun owners as violent extremists.

We thought we’d take a look at what the CCFR has done in the past year to oppose and combat the May 1, 2020 OIC gun ban. We’ve taken this fight head-on, with a variety of actions that only the CCFR could pull off.

Let’s review: 

We launched an interactive and content-rich online quiz on GunDebate.ca. The quiz is designed to test and educate non-gun owners about firearm regulation and statistics that inform their opinions. The CCFR offered Amazon gift cards in a free draw for those who can pass both the Basic and Advanced quizzes.

The CCFR launched the largest lawsuit on behalf of gun owners in Canadian history. This suit includes claims supported by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, The Canadian Bill of Rights and the Constitution Act. The CCFR hired an entire team of constitutional litigators to ensure we have the best possible chance at success.

*The CCFR is the ONLY national firearms organization to launch their own court challenge against the May 1 OIC gun ban to defend gun owners*

We leveraged our court case into a $200,000 media campaign to attract the interest of non-gun owning Canadians to our fight. This Media Campaign includes a sponsored article, an infographic and an open letter published in 16 newspapers across the entire country. National PostFinancial Post, Vancouver Sun, Vancouver Province, Edmonton Journal, Calgary Herald, Saskatoon Star Phoenix, Regina Leader Post, Windsor Star, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Kingston Whig-Standard, London Free Press and Sun newspapers in Edmonton, Ottawa, Calgary, Winnipeg and Toronto. This is the largest awareness campaign on behalf of gun owners in Canadian history and equated to 68 full-page ads.

We developed and financed two 1-hour TV specials – “Gun Ban Canada”  for WildTV and online distribution to tell our side of the story. over 100,000 people have watched these two shows online. Part 1 and Part 2 available for viewing on our YouTube channel

We developed another 1-hour special – “Broken Trust” for Sportsman channel and online distribution. This special focuses on the CCFR’s court case and why it should matter to all Canadians

The CCFR represented gun owners in over 70 mainstream media appearances since May 1, 2020, including CBC syndicated interviews nationwide. No one represents gun owners as reasonable, relatable people better than the CCFR.

We worked with hunting legend Jim Shockey to create and distribute three videos to raise awareness and get hunters involved. These videos were seen over 500,000 times in just 10 days.

In partnership with WildTV, we produced a groundbreaking investigative documentary series called “Gun Ban Canada – Exposed”. This data driven docu-series exposes the fraudulent arguments of the Liberal Government and their supporters. WATCH THEM ALL 

Launched a Bell Media radio ad campaign on TSN Sports and CFRA Talk Radio. These advertisements were heard nation-wide on the I-Heart Radio network.

Of course, lobby efforts continue as our very own Tracey Wilson continues to serve as a primary consultant to opposition parties. The CCFR only logs actual lobby meetings, not just phone calls or emails. Wilson has also hosted multiple town halls with MP’s opposing the gun ban and C-21 and has been busy helping formulate the expert witness list for committee. Tracey is the premier voice for gun owners in Ottawa, and respected on the Hill.

The CCFR hosted the largest march for firearm rights in 22 years – The CCFR’s Integrity March. 5000 Canadians marched on Ottawa to oppose the undemocratic gun ban, an incredible feat during a global pandemic.

The CCFR is also the ONLY national firearms organization to file an injunction motion to stay the ban. The motion was heard and defeated, but we promised gun owners we would do EVERYTHING possible to fight this, and we meant it. The bar for winning an injunction is considerably higher than the actual court challenge, meaning it was a long shot, but we needed to try.

We’ve said it since day one – we will leave no stone unturned nor avenue unexplored when it comes to defending you, our sport and our community. We don’t just tell you we’re doing the work, we show you.

Want to help? 

Here are some of the best ways you can contribute: 

1. If you’re not a member yet, JOIN TODAY. For $40 a year you can be part of the team and membership includes $5M of liability insurance
2. If you can spare it, DONATE  to our legal challenge fund. Times are tough, if you can’t spare it – that’s ok too
3.  Share our content everywhere: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Website, Podcast.
4. Ask your club executive to switch your club insurance to the CCFR. Here’s a great video to share with them to explain why:

On this day, the one year anniversary, take a moment to ask yourself what your firearms advocacy group has really done to fight this undemocratic, wasteful and ineffective gun ban.

Welcome to the CCFR.